Culture

One year has passed since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in southern United States and destroyed huge areas of Mississippi, Louisiana, and parts of Alabama. Amidst the arduous road to revitalization and restoration that still continues today, SGI-USA members in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, held a music festival titled ... read more

La Academia Nacional del Tango (LANT) (The National Tango Academy) of Argentina recently honored Min-On Concert Association founder and SGI President Daisaku Ikeda by naming him the academy's first honorary ambassador. The conferral ceremony took place on August 29 at the LANT facility in Buenos Aires. Some 100 SGI-Argentina members ... read more

On September 2, China International Cultural Activities Center representatives, Vice President Lin Liyun, her husband Peng Tengyun, and directors Wu Qixiang and Xi Jianglin, visited the Soka Gakkai International Women's Center in Shinanomachi, Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo. Ms. Lin Liyun served as interpreter during a December 1974 meeting between Premier Zhu ... read more

On September 2, "Napoleon and his Time: The Sublime Triumph of Culture," an exhibition organized by the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum (TFAM), opened at Chiba Portside Tower in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture. Some 120 guests from various sectors attended. Yasuhide Akada, president of the Chiba Nippo Press Corporation, Ltd., and ... read more

On August 9, 2006, some 1,300 Singapore Soka Association (SSA) representatives participated in Singapore's 41st National Day extravaganza at the National Stadium. Singapore's top government officials, including President S. R. Nathan and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, joined 60,000 residents at the main event. Some 1,200 SSA men and young ... read more

Beginning August 15, the Min-On Music Museum will feature a special autumn exhibition titled "A Mozart Journey--Mozart Exhibition from the Collection of Bin Ebisawa." The exhibition, sponsored by the Min-On Music Museum and Japan Mozart Research Institute, commemorates the 250th birth anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). The exhibition presents ... read more

On August 31, the Soka Gakkai Student Division sponsored its fourth lecture in a series at the Josei Toda International Center in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, commemorating Student Division Day. Ryutsu Keizai University Professor Mineo Miyawaki emphasized the importance of "Building Bridges of Sino-Japan Friendship through People's Exchanges." He pointed to ... read more

On August 30, the Min-On Concert Association sponsored a free concert--a duet by renowned flutist Yoko Owada and pianist Kenji Koshizuka at the Oasa Junior High School in Ebetsu City, Hokkaido. The pair performed timeless classics such as Claude Achille Debussy's (1862-1918) "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair" and Antonin ... read more

On August 24, the "Treasures of Japanese Art Exhibition," a display from the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum's (TFAM) private collection, opened at the Oscar Niemeyer Museum in Curitiba, Paraná State, Brazil. Paraná Governor Roberto Requião and State Secretary of Culture Vera Maria Haj Mussi Augusto were among the 300 guests ... read more

Performers at the Festival of African Cultures in Los Angeles
On August 13, 2006, a Festival of African Culture took place at the SGI-USA Los Angeles Friendship Center, with more than 1,000 attending. The event's theme, "Rites of Passage," focused on strengthening trust, appreciation, character, socialization and dedication to the community. ... read more

The SGI-Korea young women's Arirang Fife-and-Drum Corps performed in the 5th "Gangneung Youth Performing Arts Festival" from July 27-30, in Gangneung City, Gangwon Province, South Korea. Their dynamic performance, combined with graceful and intricate marching formations, drew approving applause from the audience. The festival brings together performing arts groups from ... read more

On August 4 and 5, the 22nd "Shinanomachi Furusato Bon-odori" summer dance festival was held in the courtyard of the Seikyo Press building in Shinanomachi, Tokyo. Several thousand residents, young and old, gathered during the two-day festival to folk dance in their yukata (summer kimonos), partake of delicious summer fare ... read more

A magician performs at the festival
On August 6, 2006, 1,200 SGI-USA members and friends in the Southeastern Region attended the "Joy of Life Culture Festival" held at the Clayton County Performing Arts Center, Atlanta, Georgia. The festival consisted of twenty performances organized into four acts: "The Origins of Art," featuring ... read more

On August 4, a Russian delegation comprising Yury Mikhailovich Serebryakov, member of the National Maritime Collegium of Russia (NMCR) and chair of the Primorsky Region's Budget, Tax Policy and Financial Resources Committee; Andrey Chugunov Matveevich, vice director of the NMCR Cultural Agency; and Yury Fedorovich Podzorov, leader of the Russian ... read more

The SGI-Korea Young Women's' Division Azure Light Chorus traveled to Amoy, China, to participate in the World Choir Games 2006 from July 15-26. The Azure Light Chorus's impressive performance won it the silver award in two categories--Folk and Women's Choir. With the motto, "Singing together brings nations together," more than ... read more